The Cookeville History Museum launching a new exhibit to explore the lives of frontier and pioneer people in the region during the birth of the United States.
Museum Education Specialist Ashley McKee said the exhibit titled “Voices of 1776” utilizes historical fiction to represent the types of individuals who would have inhabited the area before Cookeville was officially founded.
“We were trying to think of frontier and pioneer people that would be around this area and speak from their voices of the time,” McKee said. “The ordinary people’s stories get lost and so if you want to slow down and think about it, history needs to be told not only from word of mouth but you know in written in books and we wanted to portray that so if you read the story and you think about it from your perspective what if you were an enslaved worker or what if you were a frontier child or what if you were a maiden in the kitchen?”
McKee said the exhibit features a combination of authentic historical accounts and fictionalized stories to help visitors imagine different perspectives on the Revolutionary War. McKee said the display highlights the innovation of the Declaration of Independence and how the movement for independence would have felt to those living on the frontier.
“What would your take on life then would be?” McKee said. “And you know you have this big event going on that everybody’s talking about of you know the colonies are wanting to declare independence and how would you feel about that? Are you going to stay loyal to the crown or are you going to go with these ‘rebels’ and declare independence to this new brand new baby country?”
McKee said the museum specifically chose to highlight voices that are frequently absent from traditional history books, including Native Americans and enslaved workers. McKee said these stories are juxtaposed against the massive scale of the political changes occurring during the fight for American Independence.
“We get a lot of stories of men that got to be written in the history books but we also wanted to portray stories that aren’t often portrayed in history books because nobody wrote them down nobody told the story like the one of the enslaved worker or the one of the Native American,” McKee said.
McKee said the exhibit includes interactive elements such as photo opportunities with props and activities designed for children. McKee said the goal is to balance a celebratory atmosphere with the serious reality of the challenges faced by early pioneers.
“I hope that they interact with it and they they read the stories they take away some things that could have happened to them had they been born in a different time,” McKee said. “I’m not saying that all of us are just ordinary people but the extraordinary stories that come from these ordinary people.”
McKee said the exhibit will remain open to the public through September 12. McKee said the museum has also partnered with the Cookeville Depot Museum to create a “Declaration Walk” featuring informational panels at eight different businesses along Broad Street.
